Thank you Ugandans for electing leaders

Ugandans went to the polls yesterday to elect their new president and Members of Parliament for the next five years.

The General Election, organised amid rising Covid-19 cases and deaths, had its fair share of challenges and lessons as we witnessed during the campaign period.   

Arguably, the 2020-2021 election came and passed as one of the most stressful, violent and gruelling campaign in the history of the country.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Electoral Commission, heeding the Ministry of Health’s standard operating procedures (SOPs), opted to organise what it termed virtual (scientific) campaigns, where candidates were directed to campaign using TVs, radios, social media and print media, among others.

This was meant to stop either the candidates or their supporters from being super spreaders of the dreaded Covid-19.

Many presidential candidates, especially those who are giving a shot at the position for the first time, found the restriction disadvantageous to their presidential bid, given that they may not be known to the electorate.

They thus opted for rallies where they addressed crowds. But the police and other security agencies would not relent on enforcing the SOPs. 

What followed were campaigns charcterised by unprecedented arrests of Opposition presidential candidates and their supporters and violence, lobbying of teargas canisters into crowds, pepper-spraying candidates, and diversion of routes and venues of candidates as security forces enforced the SOPs. 

In spite of the chaos and violence that peaked on November 18 and 19 where 54 people were killed following the arrest of NUP presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, and FDC’s Patrick Oboi Amuriat, the election finally took place yesterday. 

We would like to particularly applaud the Electoral Commission, the 11 presidential candidates, constituency and Woman Members of Parliament candidates, the security agencies as well as the electorate, for their patience and efforts that culminated and enabled the election to take place.

We thank all the voters for exercising their constitutional right to elect leaders they believe will serve them better for the next five years.  

Nevertheless, voters should be reminded that electing their leaders is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. And to those who have been voted into office, they should dedicate themselves to serve all the people, including those who did not vote for them. That is what is called leadership and maturity.

Above all, this country is in dire need of leaders of integrity and not those who seek to occupy leadership positions for self-agrandisement.   
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